To re-visit the six essential steps to making your rental home into a profitable business:

BE IN CONTROL OF EVERY ASPECT OF THE RENTAL PROCESS

Hopefully my reason for defining this as the key to the whole thing has become clear as we looked at the various steps in the rental process. If you are not in control, then other people are, and they may not have your best interests at heart, or else no one is in control, and that is even worse.

YOU WILL ONLY MAKE A PROFIT IF YOU TAKE YOUR OWN BOOKINGS

I know that this is a sweeping statement, and that there must occasionally be an exception to the rule. However, I have never spoken to a rental home owner who has had enough bookings put into his home, and at a good enough rental rate, by a rentals management company or agency to produce a profit year by year. You need a clear plan for filling your bookings schedule yourself, on your terms, and at rental rates that are acceptable to you.

YOU NEED A GOOD SOURCE OF FOCUSSED RENTAL ENQUIRIES

If you have the technical expertise, you should consider developing your own web site. If you take this route it is important not to underestimate the need for web site promotion. Without intensive promotion, your web site will not generate rental enquiries, however good it is.

YOU NEED TO REPLY TO ENQUIRIES IN AN EFFECTIVE WAY

This is the most critical step, and the one that villa owners most often stumble over. You have a short window of opportunity to get your sales pitch across to each enquirer, and to convert an enquiry, which is in itself of no value, into a valuable confirmed booking.

YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO RELY ON YOUR MANAGEMENT COMPANY

If you persuade your company to communicate with you and to work to your specifications rather than to theirs, you will have done better than most. If you can set up a monitoring system to keep a check on their performance, then so much the better.

YOU NEED TO LOOK HONESTLY AT YOUR PROFITABILITY STATUS

It is not difficult to calculate whether your investment is making money for you or costing you money. If you are losing money and you are aware of what is happening, then you will have the incentive to deal with it. If you are making money, then you will have the opportunity to congratulate yourself. Either way, you need to know.